Kisner’s fall at PGA reflection of current times in pro golf
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There are times when the final round of a golf tournament is like a bad dream when you are in a leaky boat and the shore is just out of reach. The strain for safe harbor is the most miserable five minutes one can experience, seeming longer, depending on the desperateness plaguing your slumber.
Even the rawest rookie out here on the PGA Tour knows that it is good to lead the tournament early in the competition, to gain momentum and position, but the most important time to see your name on the leaderboard is at the end of the day on Sunday. Safe harbor is reaching for the trophy.
Kevin Kisner’s dream had him leading most of the week, but he could not get enough momentum on Sunday to move into the winner’s circle and have the klieg lights shower its resonance on him with the Wanamaker Trophy, which goes to the annual winner of the PGA of America championship. LORAN SMITH GUEST COLUMNIST
Opening with 67-67 for 134 put him in position to move out front and create some space between his name and the field on the leaderboard, but a one-over par 72 on Saturday and a dearth of closing birdies on Sunday reflected that red numbers seemed to abandon Kisner.
More often than not on tour this year the 54-hole leader has not been able to manage victory. Out of 40 tournaments, only 12 of those with the 54-hole lead went on to win the championship. There have been 28 winners who were behind after 54 holes but found their way into the winner’s circle on the final day.
Yet it was a good week for Kisner. Leading every round through Saturday, he has become a seasoned competitor on the tour with two victories and a smiling banker — he earned three and a half million dollars the last two years with consistent play, making 22 cuts with 30 and 27 starts respectively.
In 2015, he lost three playoffs, including The Players at Ponte Vedra, but he still experienced positive paydays and maintained a stiff upper lip, not allowing himself to become discouraged.
The first player in UGA history to make All-America four straight years, Kisner, who is from Aiken, South Carolina — where he still lives — has won twice on the PGA Tour and will keep stalking a major championship trophy. Although his final round 74 Sunday dropped him to seventh place, the “fire in the belly” remains. His consistency the last two years, suggests that he is one of the “thirty-something” players out on the tour with championship promise.
Every week, there seems to be a new face (like Justin Thomas at Quail Hollow) residing in first place on Sunday, which brings about the conclusion that it will be difficult in the future for one player to dominate. Perhaps there is a baby-faced Tiger Woods II out there somewhere, but lately you get the notion that there won’t be a dominant player out there anytime soon, especially with Rory McIlroy backsliding.
Major golf championships are nothing short of colossus status in this big dollar sports era, and with the PGA Championship moving to the spring, the last major of the golfing season can only become bigger with the move, which will take place in 2019.
The news of the PGA championship moving to May two springs from now is old news, but it is a reminder that golf fans will be able to feast on big time competition five months in a row, beginning with the Players Championship in March, as this tournament returns to its traditional dates.
The Players in March will be followed by the Masters in April, the PGA in May, the U.S. Open in June and the British Open in July, which gives golf something of an anticipatory bonanza akin to the Triple Crown in racing, which takes place in May and June.
Quail Hollow, the site of the latest competition for the Wanamaker Trophy, got the highest of marks from the PGA for this year’s competition. “Our thinking is that we can’t get back quickly enough,” was the view of the PGA CEO Pete Bevacqua.